


No Regrets

by The_Winged_Wolf



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Confession, First Kiss, M/M, Season 3 What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 02:23:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19454377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Winged_Wolf/pseuds/The_Winged_Wolf
Summary: As the monsters slowly close in on The Party, Will Byers makes a choice. But before he does it, he wants to do something so he'll have no regrets.





	No Regrets

**Author's Note:**

> First fanfic in general. Based on scenes from the second trailer for Season 3 so spoiler-ish if you don't watch the trailers.

The back of Will’s neck would not stop itching.

This wasn’t surprising. It had been itching on and off the last several days. The past several months, actually. Since Halloween. Since the Mind Flayer. Since the darkness… But it had been happening much more frequently these last few days. And now, it wouldn’t stop, here, in the food court of Starcourt Mall. He and the others, Mike and Lucas and Dustin and El and Max, along with Jonathan and Nancy, were scattered around, hiding, waiting for the monsters to come, to do something. Distant roars occasionally sounded from the routes into the rest of the mall, closer each time.

El was tired. The last few monsters had sapped all the strength out of her, and that’s what led to all of them scattered around. He didn’t know what to do.

_Yes you do_ , a voice inside him whispered. The shadow monster? No, something else. The braver part of him, perhaps. The part that allowed him to survive the Demogorgon and the possession.

And it was right. Days ago, after his fight with Mike… Will’s heart clenched. He was hurting so much then. He thought for sure Mike would leave him. His first friend, his best friend, his- Will cut that train of thought off. Can’t think about that. Have to do something.

After the fight, he had fled to Castle Byers, soaking in the rain. There, in his grief and anger over the injustice of his life, he had… he hadn’t known what he’d done, truthfully. One moment he was weeping, the next, the castle lay in ruins around him.

But he did know, he just didn’t want to face the truth. He had powers. Like El. He didn’t know where they came from, if they were from his time in the Upside-Down, from his possession, maybe since his birth. He had found El. He confided in her. She listened and took him in her arms and hugged him as he sobbed. And he, despite not wanting to believe it, he asked her what to do next time. How to use them. Because it was back, the Mind Flayer was back.

And now, here they all were, in the middle of the food court, waiting for the monsters, waiting to die, unless someone did something

He could be that someone. He _would_ be that someone. He didn’t know if it would work, and if it did, he didn’t know if he would even survive, but he had to do it. He had to. For them.

And Will looked across to where he last saw Mike, hidden behind an overturned table. There was one thing he wanted to do first. He wasn’t going to die with things unsaid.

_No regrets_.

The roars sounded again, closer. Will got up and, hunched over, ran to where Mike was. He passed the table and saw Mike, huddled against it, knees up against his chest. He looked up startled as Will got in front of him and kneeled down, taking his hand. “Will, what-” Mike began, but Will didn’t give him time to finish.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine...” Mike hesitated, then continued, “No, I’m not fine. I’m terrified. Where’s El? Where’s Nancy? Where’s everyone? What are we going to do!?” he asked in a near shout, trembling.

“I don’t know where anyone is. Around here, hiding. But I don’t think El can help us now. She’s too drained.”  
The little color in Mike’s face drained away, his eyes widening. “Then what do we do!? How do we stop those monsters? Without El, we’re going to-”

Will cut him off, “I think I can stop them. I’m the only one who can, at this point. It’ll take too long to explain, but…”

Mike spoke incredulously, “You? How? You’re… You’re…”

Will grinned at him. “I’m Will the Wise, that’s how.”

Mike’s face seemed to sag a bit. “Will… I don’t think… what I said…”

Will shook his head. “It’s okay. I knew you were upset. Just trust me. But before I do it, you need to know something.”

Will squeezed Mike’s hand. Mike’s eyes flickered down to it, then up to Will’s face again, frowning in confusion. The roars sounded again. _No regrets._

“Do you remember Halloween last year? When…” Will took a deep breath, “...when the shadow monster got me?”

Mike nodded, eyes seeming like they were looking back at a horrible memory.

“Do you remember the shed? What you said to me? I heard you. You said-” and Will suddenly choked back a sob in his throat. What Mike had said… It had gotten him through the past several months, when the nightmares came. “You said that befriending me was the best thing you ever did. Did you mean that? Is it still true?”

Mike’s eyes glistened with tears. He shifted the hand Will had grabbed and squeezed it. “Of course it’s true. Then and now. What would I be without you? You’re my…” Mike took a deep breath, trying not to sob, “You’re my cleric,” Mike grinned weakly at him.

Will felt tears in his eyes. _No regrets._ The roars closed in even more. “Mike… I just want you to know… Being friends with you… Saying yes… that was the best thing I’ve ever done… And I love you.”

Mike’s eyes widened in shock. Will wondered when was the last time anyone had said that to him. He wondered if El had said that. He wondered if anyone outside of his family had ever said that to him. But it was true. At that moment, Will Byers knew, with absolute certainty, that he loved Mike Wheeler.

And so, with that thought in his head and in his heart, he did the craziest thing he could think of. Will lunged forward and kissed Mike right on the lips. He felt Mike tense up and, before Will broke away, he thought he felt Mike kiss back. Just for a second, then Will had pulled away, staring into Mike’s dazed, shocked, terrified face, trying to memorize every last detail on it.

Will Byers then did the hardest thing imaginable.

He let go of Mike’s hand.

He stood up.

He walked past him, into the center of the food court.

Will Byers marched to his death.

_No regrets._

He moved forward, and he remembered what El told him. Use his emotions. El used anger, but maybe that wasn’t what Will needed. Nevertheless, he tried that first. Anger. Anger at Hawkins Lab, for the horrors they had visited upon this town and his friends. Anger at the Upside-Down, for causing so many deaths and the death of Will’s childhood. Anger at the Mind Flayer, the shadow monster, for possessing and turning so many people into monsters, the monsters they now faced. Anger at the people who had hurt him and his friends, from Max’s brother to the bullies in town to Will’s own father. Will closed his eyes, trying to scrounge up all that anger, to feel the power in him.

Nothing happened. The back of his neck itched even more. Will felt despair.

_No. I have to do this. I have to protect them. That’s why I’m doing this. So they can live._

Yes, that was why he was doing this. For them. For his mom and his brother. For Lucas and Dustin, Max and El. For Steve and Nancy and Hopper. For everyone in this town, really.

For Mike.

_If we’re both going crazy, then we’ll go crazy together, right?_

Will felt something inside him. Something boiling up. He suddenly felt… _connected…_ to the world around him like he never had before. The roars again. Even closer. Right on top of them practically.

_Yeah. Crazy together._

The lights in the mall began to flicker. Slowly at first, then gradually faster and faster. Will felt something warm trickle down his nose. He was ready. He could do this.

_Do you remember the first day that we met?_

Of course he did. How could he not. Sitting on the swing, staring at his feet, trying not to cry. Feeling alone, with no one to play with. And then… and then this boy with a mop of black hair had approached him, shuffling his feet, twiddling his thumbs, looking down at the ground and asked him why he was alone.

_I have no friends, no one to play with._

_Well… I don’t either. Do you… do you want to be my friend?_

_...Yes. Yes. I’m Will._

_I’m Mike._

And that was that.

_It was the best thing I’ve ever done._

Will opened his eyes. He felt blood streaming down his nose. The lights were flickering like crazy. He turned and looked back toward where he left Mike, to see him standing there, shocked and scared and… looking like he was reliving something, a memory. A horrible memory.

Will clenched his hand into a fist. _No regrets._

“Goodbye Mike.”


End file.
